William Cobbing

William Cobbing is a Senior Lecturer in BA Drawing at Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts, part of University of the Arts London. He has maintained an active international exhibition career since 2000, with solo and group shows across Europe including exhibitions at Galerie Fons Welters (Amsterdam), Netwerk Centre for Contemporary Art (Belgium), and Matt's Gallery.

Cobbing's artistic practice demonstrates a sculptural sensibility that spans diverse media including video, photography, and installation. His work often involves performative encounters with materials like clay, where protagonists engage in repetitive and absurd cycles of manipulating formless surfaces. These works explore concepts of entropy, examining how earthly material irreversibly disperses and blurs boundaries between the body and landscape. A significant thread in his practice connects visual art with concrete poetry, particularly through his scholarly work on his relative, the concrete poet Bob Cobbing.

His exhibition output shows consistent engagement with material processes and interdisciplinary approaches. The most recent works demonstrate continued exploration of clay and installation, while his publications reveal deep scholarly engagement with concrete poetry archives. This dual focus creates a unique bridge between visual and literary avant-garde traditions.

• ACE Helen Chadwick Fellowship (2005/6) at Ruskin School and British School at Rome
• Residencies at Turquoise Mountain in Kabul, Afghanistan (2009-2010)
• Gradiva Project exhibited at Freud Museum and Camden Arts Centre (2007/8)

Cobbing has been actively involved in collaborative projects, notably co-curating (with Rosie Cooper) a series of exhibitions about concrete poet Bob Cobbing. His international residencies have informed major exhibition projects, and his work with institutions like Turquoise Mountain represents significant field research that has shaped his artistic practice. While specific teaching details aren't provided, his role as Senior Lecturer in BA Drawing indicates substantial engagement with art education.

His practice is characterized by sustained investigation into material processes, creating installations and performances that challenge conventional boundaries between art forms and disciplines, with a particular focus on the philosophical implications of material transformation.